23 Sep 2008

Sixth Emmy award for NZ TV host

10:55 am on 23 September 2008

New Zealander Phil Keoghan has won a sixth consecutive Emmy.

The producer and host of the American travel TV gameshow, The Amazing Race, won the award for best reality or competition programme again on Sunday in Los Angeles.

He has done so every time since the category was introduced in 2003.

Keoghan told Morning Report he believes the show highlights the human spirit and gives people with ordinary qualities the chance to do something amazing.

Although shooting the show is exhausting, he says it's hugely rewarding.

Two other New Zealand nominees, Brett McKenzie and Jemain Clement of The Flight of the Conchords, missed out on awards for best original song and best comedy writing.

Other winners

Other winners included John Adams, which set an Emmy record by winning 13 awards, including best mini-series, best actor (Paul Giamatti), best actress (Laura Linney) and best supporting actor (Tom Wilkinson).

John Adams is the story of the second president of the United States.

Cable TV series Mad Men won best drama series.

Comedy series 30 Rock also cleaned up, pipping Flight of the Conchords for the comedy-writing award.

30 Rock and its stars Alec Balwin and Tina Fey also took the best comedy and comedy actor and actress awards.

Glenn Close won an Emmy for best drama actress for her part in Damages.

Bryan Cranston took the best drama actor title for his role in Breaking Bad.

Low ratings

Viewing numbers for the broadcast event were low.

According to preliminary data from Nielsen Media Research, ABC's three-hour telecast averaged 12.2 million viewers. Final national ratings are due on Tuesday.

Part of the reason for low ratings is that most of the winning shows draw relatively few viewers themselves.

The Emmy telecast on ABC also collided in the eastern half of the country with NBC's highly rated Sunday Night Football broadcast of the Dallas Cowboys' 27-16 defeat of the Green Bay Packers.

Many New York viewers were likely siphoned off by an ESPN telecast of the last baseball game by the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium.